The fallout from Brendan Sorsby’s decision to end his eligibility battle with the NCAA and enter the NFL’s supplemental draft has probably hit Cleveland Browns fans the hardest this week. Browns fans have been calloused by years of dysfunctional decision-making since Jimmy Haslam bought the franchise in 2012. When an odd situation like this arises with a troubled but talented player, the Browns are typically on the short list of teams who could be willing to accept the risk.
With Sorsby, the risk extends far beyond whatever 2027 draft pick Cleveland would be willing to wager on the troubled quarterback prospect. The Browns only have so many roster spots available, and adding Sorsby this summer would mean adding a fourth QB draft pick in a span of two years. His admitted gambling addiction and violations aside, Cleveland would almost certainly have to jettison Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel, or Taylen Green to make room, and potentially two of those three if Sorsby isn’t immediately placed on the NFL’s reserve/suspended list.
It’s an extremely messy situation, one Browns GM Andrew Berry probably shouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole, even with his treasure trove of 2027 draft capital.
For Browns fans fearing the worst, ESPN analyst Ben Solak’s take on the situation was a major breath of fresh air on Wednesday. He described a toolsy but unpolished prospect who wouldn’t really fit the Browns’ current path.
“He’s very inconsistent across the board, especially mechanically, and that leads to big, big accuracy drain,” Solak said. “Out of 133 qualifying quarterbacks last year in the FBS, he was 112th in off-target rate — 13.8 percent. If we look at that relative to previous Day 1, Day 2 drafted quarterbacks, we see that Sorsby is just measurably less accurate than the typical quarterback that gets taken early in the regular NFL Draft. … Wonky mechanics are the No. 1 reason for Sorsby’s mechanical issues but he also just has a lot of coverage blindness right now. Very common for a young quarterback, but Cincinnati had a pretty slim menu of concepts they like to get to, and Sorsby would just throw them on autopilot and not really check coverages. …
I don’t think he gets picked any earlier than Day 3. I think he would have been a Day 2 pick if he came out in the regular NFL Draft, but given the off-field stuff and given the weirdness of the supplemental draft, I think he is an early-to-mid Day 3 sort of a wager.”
Brendan Sorsby may project more as a developmental prospect than a surefire franchise QB
Assuming Berry and the Browns’ scouting department sees what Solak sees, it seems fair to assume that Cleveland will bow out of the Sorsby sweepstakes. There’s a major element of the unknown with the supplemental draft’s blind-bidding process, and the Browns are already developing three prospects at Sorsby’s general place on the NFL timeline in Sanders, Gabriel, and Green.
The harsh reality, per Solak, is that Sorsby doesn’t project as a player who could join a team this late in the offseason program and be a viable Week 1 starter. His chances of seeing the field at all in 2026 already seem razor thin.
“Sorsby is a classic go back to school for one more year guy, because the tools are a lot better than the product right now,” Solak said, adding later: “The team that acquires him is going to firstly want the heat to just cool down on the visibility of the fact that they selected this player, and then they’re also going to want him to develop on the bench and improve a lot of these big, jagged inconsistencies in his game right now. So I don’t see him as a 2026 starter. (I see him as a) 2027 developmental guy on whom I wouldn’t wager more than like a fourth or a fifth.”
The Browns would certainly find themselves in a unique situation here if Solak nails Sorsby’s value. They currently hold three picks in the fourth round, as well as two fifth-round selections.
But they can’t really justify submitting a wager purely on vibes and perceived value. It’s not that simple. Adding Sorsby in July would lead to major changes to a current QB group that head coach Todd Monken has been working with since early April.
If Sorsby was already a better option than Watson or Sanders, this would be a different conversation entirely. But if he’s really a multi-year project who could use another year in college to get ready for the NFL? The numbers just don’t compute for Cleveland.
The Browns would only be adding risk while still entering 2027 needing a franchise quarterback.
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